Skeegie Cash

Teasers from The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash: J. Edgar Hoover and Florida's Lindbergh Case by Robert A. Waters and Zack C. Waters

I spent years researching the Skeegie Cash case. It was a labor of love. Fortunately, I was able to drag Zack, my award-winning co-author and brother, away from his beloved Civil War genre to assist me with the writing of the book. Here are a few passages that show our writing style. Hope you enjoy.

“At about nine o'clock in the evening, Vera Cash gave five-year-old Skeegie a bath, then dressed him in white and rose-colored one-piece pajamas. Placing her child in his crib, she read to him from the Miami Herald. Stories about Adolph Hitler's occupation of Austria and Josef Stalin's latest Five-year Plan might portray human suffering on a grand scale, but Skeegie normally went to sleep quickly when his mother began reading.”

“In 1938, the Depression still festered, like a sore that wouldn't heal.”

“By now, Hoover was seething. He'd come to this one-horse town to make a statement to his detractors, and now his best leads had dried up.”

“After stalling for a long as possible, [Sheriff Coleman] slammed the lever down. A loud bang sounded, followed by the crackle of electric static. Twenty-four hundred volts roared through McCall's body. The smell of burning flesh flooded the room and a smoky haze drifted toward the ceiling. No sound came from the prisoner, but the audience gasped as they watched him straining against the straps.”

10 Facts about Slavery that aren't Taught in School

                                                 

10 Facts about Slavery that aren't Taught in School

Human slavery is as old as time. It is still practiced today in many variant forms in countries all across the globe, including the United States. In this age of political correctness, some of these facts reveal inconvenient truths. I've listed a few sources I used for this article, and invite anyone who has an interest in this subject to check my statements for accuracy.

1 – Human Slavery has Likely Existed Since the Beginning of Time.

The Code of Hammurabi (1760 BC), refers to slavery as an established institution. In the Bible, Joseph's jealous brothers sold him into slavery. The Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years and finally freed by Moses in his famous Exodus. In the New Testament book of Philemon, the apostle Paul enjoins a Christian slave-owner to treat his runaway slave, Onesimus, like a brother. In the book of I Corinthians, Paul tells the church that “bond and free” Christians are to be treated equally. Roman society, which flourished in Biblical times, was built on the backs of slaves. The famous Roman Coliseum, for example, was constructed primarily by slave-labor from captive Jews.  Beginning in 793 A.D., Vikings from Scandinavia captured thousands of Irish and Scottish civilians, enslaving them.  The women were used for sex and as domestic workers while the men were used for manual labor.  The Viking culture was built on slavery.

2 – Millions of White Europeans were Enslaved by Muslims.

Christopher Hitchens wrote: “How many know that perhaps 1.5 million Europeans were enslaved in Islamic North Africa between 1530 and 1780?” For centuries, the so-called Islamic Empire (a loose federation of countries now known as Egypt, Algeria, Tunis, and Libya) enslaved millions of white Europeans. In fact, the Empire grew wealthy due in part to the slave trade. Pirates from these and other Arabic countries raided coastal villages in Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, England, etc.) in search of slaves. They also captured thousands of ships, selling the cargo and enslaving the crews. It is estimated that about 2.5 million Europeans were enslaved by the Empire from 1450 to 1830. Conditions endured by these victims were brutal to the extreme—women were used as concubines while many men were forced to become eunuchs. The Barbary Wars, fought in the early 1800s by the Americans and some European allies, effectively ended the practice of enslaving and ransoming crews of American ships. In 1830, France conquered Algiers, making it a colony and ending the rampant slave trade there.

3 – Africans Traded Slaves to Arabic, European, and American Slave Traders.

From prehistoric times, slavery thrived in Africa. The practice likely began when warring clans captured rivals, enslaving them. For thousands of years, slavery was a major part of the African economy. Beginning in the 7^th century, clans and wealthy families sold hundreds of thousands of slaves to Arab traders. In addition, Islamic pirates captured millions of Africans and sold them into slavery. In the 12^th century, Europeans began to trade for black slaves that were carried back to Europe. Beginning in the 16^th century, English ships transported African slaves to the New World. Soon New England slavers established their own slave routes to and from Africa. These slaves were not hunted down by whites, but obtained through trading with local clans and warlords. In “Slavery in Africa,” Donald R. Wright states that “West and west central African states, already involved in slave trading, supplied the Europeans with African slaves for export across the Atlantic.” Today, UNICEF reports that slavery still exists in Africa.

4 – Millions of “Indians” Were Enslaved by Whites.

Christopher Columbus took Indians (natives misnamed because he thought he'd found India) back to Europe where they were enslaved. The Spanish conquerors of South America captured millions of Indians and used them to perform manual labor. In Florida alone, Hernando de Soto seized thousands of natives which he used as slaves. In the 1600's, New England colonists enslaved hundreds of troublesome Pequot Indians who objected to encroachment on their territory. Since these Indian slaves were considered “dangerous and revengeful,” many were transported to the West Indies and exchanged for “Negro” slaves, thought of as more compliant. John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts, kept American Indians as slaves, and doled others out to those who requested them. Winthrop also helped write the first law making slavery legal in the United States.

5 – Agriculture was a Driving Force for Slavery in the South.

As the fledgling United States began, all Southern and Northern states codified their laws so that individuals could legally own slaves. (Georgia was the last Southern state to do so since James Edward Ogelthorpe, one of its founders, opposed slavery.) Approximately twelve million Africans were brought to the Americas, but most were shipped to Brazil and the West Indies, where sugar plantations were plentiful. The 1793 invention of the cotton gin, a machine that sped up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber, jump-started slavery in the South. According to the 1860 census, one year before the start of the War Between the States, 8% of Americans, including southerners and northerners, owned slaves. The total number of slaves in America in 1860 was listed as 3,950,528. Of 31 million Americans, nearly 400,000 owned slaves. At the time, 476,748 free blacks were listed. The vast majority of southerners did not own slaves, and many opposed the institution.

6 – Thousands of Freed Blacks Owned Slaves.

Yes, Virginia, blacks owned slaves. This fact has been suppressed by historians because it does not fit the politically correct narrative. For example, in 1830, two South Carolina blacks (Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry) each owned 84 slaves. In the 1830 census, 3,775 blacks owned 12,740 black slaves. In 1860, in Charleston, South Carolina, 125 free blacks owned slaves. In New Orleans, approximately 25% of slaves were owned by freed blacks. Antoine Dubuclet was a black sugar planter in Louisiana who owned more than 100 slaves. William Ellison, a former slave freed by his owner, became one of the largest and wealthiest slave-owners in South Carolina. He was also a slave-breeder, something looked down on by both blacks and whites. Ellison supported the Confederacy during the Civil War, and one of his sons, Buckner, fought in the 1^st South Carolina Artillery. Buckner Ellison was wounded in action in 1863. From the early 1800s to the defeat of the Confederate States of America, thousands of freed blacks owned slaves.

7 – Slavery Existed in the Northern States Even After the Civil War.

Slavery in the northern states began long before the American Revolution. Many of those instrumental in the creation of the United States owned or sold slaves. For instance, Dudley Saltenstall, progenitor of many New England politicians and governors, made much of his money as a slaver. William Penn, who wrote Pennsylvania's then-liberal constitution, owned slaves. Slavery in many New England states was not abolished until long after the Revolutionary War. In the late 1700's, nearly twenty percent of New York City's population were slaves. The City Council passed a law appointing a place where “all Negro and Indian slaves” should be sold. This was near today's Wall Street Stock Exchange. While slavery became illegal in New York in 1827, it continued on. In 1857, the New York Journal of Commerce wrote: “Downtown merchants of wealth and respectability are extensively engaged in buying and selling African Negroes and have been, with comparatively little interruption, for an indefinite number of years.” Slavery was still legal in some northern states (i. e., Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) until December, 1865, nearly a year after the end of the Civil War.

8 – Slavery in the United States of America Only Ended After the Civil War.

The 13^th Amendment, ratified on December 6, 1865 (eight months after the end of the Civil War), abolished legalized slavery in the United States of America. NOTE: By the time of the passage of the 13^th Amendment, slavery had already ended in the former Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862, applied only to Southern states. In fact, History.com states that in 1863, “there were an estimated 800,000 slaves in border states and some 3 million more in Confederate states.” On April 8, 1864, during the war, the United States Congress voted NOT to ratify the 13^th Amendment.  Slavery in the South ended on April, 1865, when the war ended, but legally continued in northern states until December, 1865.

9 – Many Famous Northerners Owned Slaves.

This is a partial list of a few famous northerners who owned slaves: Union General and U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant; Benjamin Franklin (bought, sold, and traded slaves); Cornelius Vanderbilt; John Hancock (bought, sold, and traded slaves); William Penn; President Martin Van Buren; President William Henry Harrison; President James Buchanan; John Jay, signer of the Declaration of Independence; and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Like President Abraham Lincoln, Sherman was vocal in his belief that blacks were inferior to whites.

10 – Slavery Still Exists in the United States Today. 

Slavery today is generally called “trafficking.” It occurs all over the world, including America. It can take many forms, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, debt bondage, and, in some countries, organ transplant trafficking and military trafficking. In the United States, pimps routinely search out young white blond girls, called “snow bunnies,” because they bring more money from sex-hungry johns. By addicting these girls (many underage) to drugs, the pimps are able to control them and coerce them to do anything, including to sell their bodies. In addition to sex trafficking, many foreign-born individuals are smuggled into America and forced to labor for little or no pay. Chinese, Africans, Mexicans, individuals from the post-Russian countries, and many others also become victims of trafficking. According to recent data, an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 young people are trafficked in this country at any given time.  Many American-born victims are from poverty-stricken homes, or are runaways.

Recommended Reading

The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island by Mac Griswold.

Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery by Anne Farrow.

Digital Collections/New York Public Library (Online). Many images and articles discuss the extensive slavery institution in New York.

“Slavery in Africa” by David R. Wright.

slavenorth.com

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thirteenth-amendment

Short Family Murders

Amber Alert for Adriana Coronado

Myra "Allisia" Freeman Missing

The February 9th Killer

Sonia Mejia

10 Years Later, Serial Murderer is Still Unknown

by Robert A. Waters

Even though police have his DNA, a serial murderer whose three known victims died on February 9 has never been identified.

On February 9, 2006, Sonia Mejia was raped and strangled in her Taylorsville, Utah apartment. Six months pregnant, her unborn child also died. Police informed reporters that a Hispanic male had been seen talking to Mejia in her doorway. Investigators think he either talked his way into her apartment or forced his way inside. After killing her, the murderer also robbed Mejia, taking a ruby ring, a diamond ring, and a Lady of Guadaloupe medallion.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Taylorsville police has “ruled out family members and [has] been advised by the FBI to look for a suspect with a history of abusing animals.”

Exactly two years later, Damiana Castillo, 57, was found sexually assaulted and strangled in West Valley City. She lived less than three miles from Mejia's old apartment. Like Mejia, Castillo's apartment showed no signs of having been broken into.

A West Valley Police spokesperson said, “It was very unusual for [Castillo] not to be in church on a Sunday morning. She would typically attend church on Sunday morning. She was very prompt and for her not to be at church was very concerning not only for her congregation but for her family as well. Her son came over and subsequently found his mother lying dead on the floor in her apartment.”

At first, police concluded that the two crimes were not connected.

But DNA linked the rapes. Investigators, surprised to learn the evidence matched, determined the same killer had murdered both women and Mejia's child.

Was it a coincidence that the same killer attacked two women on the same day two years apart. Or was it a pattern? Were the crimes random, or did the killer know his victims? Has he committed other rapes or murders? Why isn't his DNA profile in a database somewhere?

Police stated that they have reason to believe the killer is Hispanic, in his late teens or early twenties, and stands between five-feet-three inches and five-feet-five inches tall. He has short black hair and at the time weighed between 135-150 pounds.

Damiana Castillo

Travis Clinton Hittson (pictured) is scheduled to be executed on February 17 for the murder of Conway Utterbeck. For those who wish to read a detailed account of this horrific, senseless crime, I'm publishing a transcript of the Georgia Supreme Court ruling.


HITTSON v. THE STATE.

S94P0681.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided October 31, 1994.
Reconsideration Denied December 1, 1994.

Stephen N. Hollomon, Williams, Sammons & Sammons, Walter G. Sammons, Jr., for appellant.

Edward D. Lukemire, District Attorney, Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General, Susan V. Boleyn, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Paige M. Reese, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

THOMPSON, Justice.

Travis Clinton Hittson was convicted of the malice murder of Conway Utterbeck, as well as counts of aggravated assault, theft by taking and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The jury found that the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind, OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (7), and recommended that Hittson be sentenced to death. The trial court sentenced Hittson to death for the murder and to terms of years for the remaining convictions.

On April 3, 1992 Hittson, his co-defendant Edward Vollmer, and the victim, Conway Utterbeck, left Pensacola, Florida, where they were stationed on the U. S.S. Forrestal, and they drove to the home of Vollmer's parents in Warner Robins, Georgia. The elder Vollmers were out of town, and the three men spent the first night in a shed on the property. They obtained a key to the house from a family friend the following day. According to statements Hittson subsequently made to law enforcement officers, on the second day of the trip he and Vollmer went to several bars, leaving the victim at the Vollmers' home. As they drove back to the house, Vollmer stated that the victim planned to kill them, and they should "get" him first. Vollmer gave Hittson an aluminum baseball bat and the two entered the house to find the victim dozing. Hittson stated that, at Vollmer's direction, he struck the victim several times in the head with the baseball bat, then dragged him into the kitchen where Vollmer waited. According to Hittson, the victim screamed, "Travis, whatever have I did to you?" While Vollmer stepped on the victim's hand, Hittson shot him in the head. Hittson stated that he was "cold" and "had no emotion" when he shot the victim.

According to Hittson's statement, approximately two hours later Vollmer stated that they needed to dismember the body in order to get rid of the evidence. Hittson stated that they used a hacksaw to remove the victim's hands, head and feet, but that he became sick after he removed a hand, and Vollmer completed the dismemberment. Hittson stated that Vollmer acted alone in removing the victim's genitals and carving out his rectum. Vollmer and Hittson then packed the victim's remains in numerous garbage bags. They buried the victim's torso in Houston County, cleaned up the Vollmers' home, and hid the baseball bat in the Vollmers' shed. Subsequently they drove back to Pensacola where they buried the rest of the victim's remains.

On April 5, 1992, Louise Davidson observed a black Thunderbird with Florida license plates emerging from a seldom used dirt road in Houston County. Two people were in the car. Suspicions were aroused, and she noted the license number. When the victim's torso was discovered two months later by loggers in an area off the same dirt road, police determined that the car previously observed by Davidson belonged to Edward Vollmer.

Relying on information that the victim had gone to Warner Robins just before his disappearance, the Navy contacted the Houston County Sheriff's Department. Representatives of the Sheriff's Department travelled to Pensacola, Florida, and, along with agents from the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), interviewed a number of the victim's shipmates, including Hittson. Hittson subsequently confessed and gave information leading to the discovery of the rest of the victim's remains.

At Hittson's trial the medical examiner testified that, in his opinion, the victim died from a single gunshot wound to the head, but that it was not possible to determine whether the dismemberment occurred before or after death.

Emily Harris

The Unquiet Death of Myrna Opsahl

by Robert A. Waters

At 9:01 A.M. on April 21, 1975, Myrna Opsahl, 42-year-old wife, mother and nurse, walked into the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California.  With two other members of her Seventh-day Adventist Church, she planned to deposit the congregation’s weekend collection.  As Opsahl entered, four members of a self-styled leftist militant group called the Symbionese Liberation Army pushed in behind her. 

Emily Harris, her husband William Harris, Michael Bortin, and Kathleen Ann Soliah, wore heavy coats and masks.  Emily, holding a shotgun loaded with buckshot, screamed for patrons to get down on the floor.  “Get your noses on the carpet…noses on the carpet.”

Opsahl, holding the church’s cash-box, didn’t move fast enough.  A blast from Harris’s shotgun ripped open her abdomen.  She fell to the floor, bleeding out.

The robbers ignored the dying woman and continued with their heist.  Cosmo Garvin, of the Sacramento News & Review, wrote: “Bank customers described one of the robbers (Soliah) as a woman in her mid-20s who wore a green bandana over her face, held a pistol in one hand, while keeping an eye on her wristwatch, and periodically shouted out how much time had elapsed.  Another bandit leapt the bank counter and emptied the money from the teller drawers, caching some $15,000.”  The robbers fled the scene of the crime in a Pontiac Firebird.

Meanwhile, Opsahl bled to death.

The SLA was already notorious for kidnapping Patty Hearst and murdering Marcus Foster, superintendent of schools in Oakland.  In her book, Every Secret Thing, Hearst claimed that Emily Harris said she accidently pulled the trigger.  But making light of Opsahl’s murder, Harris said: “Oh, she’s dead, but it really doesn’t matter.  She was a bourgeois pig anyway.  Her husband was a doctor.”

In the mid-1970s, many SLA members went into hiding.  Helped by families, radical friends, and other leftists, they blended into society, eventually becoming bourgeois pigs themselves. 

For nearly three decades, Sacramento prosecutors refused to indict anyone for the murder, claiming there was not enough evidence to convict.

And there the case might have lain dormant.  Except Jon, one of the sons of Myrna Opsahl, refused to let it lie.  People Magazine’s Thomas Fields-Meyer described how Jon learned of his mother’s murder: “A school nurse walked into Jon Opsahl’s Sacramento High School classroom and whispered something to his teacher.  The teacher began to cry.  Then the nurse led Jon in silence to the principal’s office, where he found his brother and sister.  All three were rushed to a local hospital, where Jon’s father, Trygve, eyes red with tears, was waiting.  ‘Mommy has been shot...’ he told them.  ‘She’s dead.’”

As the years passed, Jon became a physician.  He married and had children, but the wound in his gut was still raw.  Why weren’t the killers of his mom in prison instead of living normal, everyday lives?  He began harassing prosecutors with numerous phone calls.  He set up his own web page asking for more information about the murders.  And he began periodically sending postcards with his mother’s picture on it to prosecutors.  Just to remind them that at least her family hadn’t forgotten.

In the meantime, Patty Hearst was convicted of robbing the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco.  President Jimmy Carter soon commuted Hearst’s prison sentence and Bill Clinton pardoned her.  (In the Crocker Bank robbery, Hearst waited in a VW van which served as a switch car.)  Steven Soliah, Kathleen’s brother and allegedly one of the getaway drivers, was tried and acquitted of the Crocker robbery.  Emily Harris served a short prison sentence for helping to abduct Patty Hearst, then became a computer consultant for MGM and other film production companies.  

In the months after the bank robbery, Kathleen Ann Soliah placed two pipe bombs underneath police cars.  Fortunately, the bombs were discovered before they detonated.  Soliah then went underground, moving back to her home state of Minnesota.  There she morphed into Sarah Jane Olson, married, and had three children.  For more than two decades she lived in anonymity, evidently unbothered by her part in the murder of an innocent victim, or her attempts to murder police officers.

Finally, 28 years later, the wheels of justice began moving forward in the Opsahl murder case.  The murderers were tracked down and arrested.  With several of their former terrorist cohorts prepared to testify against them, the four pleaded guilty to second degree murder.  Emily Harris Montague received eight years; Bill Harris got seven years; and Michael Bortin and Sara Jane Olson were sentenced to six in prison.  (In addition, Olson received 14 years for attempting to murder a police officer—for all her crimes, she served only seven before being paroled.)

At the hearing, Jon Opsahl said: “For nearly 28 years, I have lived with the fact that monsters do exist, that hometown terrorism is real, that the incomprehensible happened, and that beyond our family and church, no one else seemed to care, including and especially the defendants.”

All the defendants were released long ago.  Those few years they spent in prison were just a hiccup in the vile lives of Montague, Harris, Bortin, and Olson.

Unfortunately, Myrna Opsahl, a productive, innocent victim, has been dead and largely forgotten for all these decades.

Where did justice go?  

Blog to be Put on Hold

Hiatus for Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem

After seven years of averaging more than one story per week, my blog will be put on hold for an indefinite period.  I'm beginning work on a new book and will have little time to research and write stories for Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem.  I suspect that the blog will lay dormant for a year or so.

Since 2008, I've published 518 stories.  I've met many readers who have encouraged me with their enthusiasm and kind words.  I've also incurred some criticism, but that is to be expected when an author's viewpoint differs from the mainstream.  Whatever the case, I appreciate all my readers.  The blog will remain viable on the Internet for those who wish to read the older articles.

While there will be no weekly stories, I might occasionally publish reviews of certain books that I've read and enjoyed, and if a case grabs my attention, it may get a write-up. 

The Sad Death of Opal Sturgell

The “Trysting Oak” Murder
by Robert A. Waters

August, 1937

Berea, Kentucky

“This small college town flamed with excitement today as one of Berea’s pretty co-eds lay dead, victim last night of a mysterious ambush slaying. The murdered girl is Miss Opal Sturgell, 18-year-old sophomore of Berea college, who was shot and fatally wounded while she strolled along a campus walk with William Anderson, a friend.” (From International News Service.)

Anderson informed police that he and Sturgell were walking near what students called the “trysting oak” in a secluded area when George E. Wells, 20, stepped out from behind a clump of bushes and fired three shots from a revolver. Opal fell to the ground, mortally wounded. The teen died at the hospital an hour later. Anderson stated that Wells pointed the gun at him, then stuck it against his own temple. Seconds later, the gunman turned and fled.

Berea police investigators soon learned that Wells had been stalking Sturgell. Just before gunning down the popular co-ed, he had confronted her and Anderson as they walked along. Wells demanded that Opal talk with him privately, but she refused. As Wells moved away, he turned and said, “If that’s the way you feel about it, okay—you may be sorry.”

Opal Sturgell, from Houckville, Kentucky, was described as a “country girl,” possibly because her father was a farmer. In 1936, she graduated from Blaine High School. That September, she enrolled at Berea College. A beautiful girl who made good grades, Opal was a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority and Harmonia, a vocal group.

K. Olivia Meszaros, in her online article, “Murders on Campus,” wrote: “Opal Sturgell had known George E. Wells since they had gone to high school together. He had reportedly asked her to marry him then, but she had refused. When they came to Berea, he continued to pursue her. Wells had come to Berea College as a freshman in 1934, and was a junior when Opal arrived in 1936. According to various interviews, including an account from Opal’s sister who was a teacher in Lawrence County, Wells had been told multiple times to stay away from her, by her and others, including the dean of the school at the time. Although Wells was a good student and active in several campus groups, during the spring term of 1937, his grades began to slip.”

Wells, who wrote for the college newspaper, fancied himself a poet. In fact, when police searched his rented apartment after the shooting, they found a mushy piece of doggerel on his bed. It ended with the following lines:

“Thou are a flower blooming in the spring

Whose loveliness is glorious divine.

Thy radiant glow and cheerful smiles may bring

To someone happiness and joy sublime

And courage great to help him to be true

Along the path made beautiful by you.”

At first, investigators thought Wells would be easy to find. As far as they knew, he left with only the clothes he wore and a few dollars in his pocket. It was likely that he had no escape plan once he murdered Opal. But despite a massive early search by police, he slipped from sight like a vague shadow and was never found.

Within days, the Berea police chief announced that he believed Wells had killed himself.  From then on, except for investigating sporadic and erroneous sightings, police suspended the search.

So did George E. Wells commit suicide? It’s certainly possible, but without proof, other alternatives should have been explored more thoroughly.

One theory holds that Wells hitchhiked out of the area before a full-scale search began. He may have fled to a faraway city and begun a new life. Just four years later, World War II broke out, and Wells might have enlisted under a different name. With an honorable discharge and a new legal identity, after the war he could have continued his deception until he died.

Or he may have been killed during the conflict.

Whatever the case, George E. Wells cheated justice.